


The Fall

by tickandtemp



Category: The Underland Chronicles - Suzanne Collins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-30 22:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3954067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tickandtemp/pseuds/tickandtemp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The scene of Gregor and Henry's fall from Gregor the Overlander, in Henry's POV. Suggested by Tumblr user sweatshirtsandsocks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fall

_Gregor had never seen Ares dive in earnest. He was heading for the ground at tremendous speed, dodging the rats that reached for him. Gregor began to doubt he would be able to pull out of it. "He overshot," thought Gregor as the bat rocketed past Henry._

_He could hear Henry's desperate plea._

Gregor The Overlander, Suzanne Collins, Chapter 25

* * *

"Ares!" Henry shouted as his bond, Ares, shot past him rather than catch him.

As Henry fell, he watched Ares dive lower, lower, lower down, and he wondered what Ares was doing. Did Ares get disoriented somehow? He couldn't have. Ares didn't need light to fly. Did Ares confuse him with someone else? He couldn't have. Whatever it was that bats used to see other than light wouldn't have allowed him to confuse Henry for, say, a gnawer or the Overlander. As confusion and panic reeled in his mind, he caught a glimpse of Ares flying under Gregor and letting the dark-skinned boy land on his back.

_What?_

He had never feared falling before. Why would he have? Every Underland child was taught not to fear falling, as they could always, always trust the bats. Even bondless humans could rely on some nearby bat to catch them if they slipped off a high surface, like a pillar or the High Hall of the palace. The Overlander, on the other hand, had no bats or bonds where he lived, and he had an unshakeable fear of heights.

Henry remembered when Luxa told Gregor that he needed to learn how to ride a flier. They had been in the bats' land, with Vikus and Solovet off to discuss battle plans with Queen Athena, and he, Luxa, Mareth, and Gregor standing on one pillar, waiting. Luxa and Henry had tried to explain that he should not fear falling or the fliers, and Henry had demonstrated this concept by tossing the Overlander's sister off the pillar. Despite Boots being rather safe among the many fliers tossing her about, Gregor had still snapped at them, demanding to have his sister back.

"She's going to think she can jump off anything and be caught!" Gregor had shrieked, and when Luxa reassured him that she can, he had only yelled at them more. "Not at home, Luxa! Not in the Overland! And I don't plan on staying in this creepy place forever!"

Luxa had told Gregor that it was he who needed the lesson, and Henry had joked that he might jump off his own roof when he returned home. At some point, he remarked that Gregor would be so clumsy that the bats wouldn't "compensate" for it.

But here they were. Ares had caught Gregor instead of Henry, and he had not been compensating for Gregor's clumsiness, but choosing him over his own bond. Henry, who had mocked Gregor for his fear of heights, was falling, and when he saw Gregor bury his face in Ares' fur, he was absolutely sure that no one was going to catch him.

 


End file.
